About this Bible Study........The King James Version of the Bible is written in a beautiful form of the English language. It can be hard for modern English readers to understand. In this study, you will find notes and summaries in brown just above the the verses from the Bible. We recommend that you read the notes and summaries first, and then read the verses in their KJV form.
The Books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings
The books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings were originally one book. They were probably
separated into 2 books so they would be easier to copy by hand.
1 Kings and 2 Kings were written 561 - 538 years before Jesus Christ was born. They cover
David's death,
David's son, Solomon, and his time as king, the kings after Solomon,
and the other groups of people who came and carried the Israelites away to other
countries.
The books were written for 2 reasons:
1. To review the history for the exiles (the Israelites who lived in other
countries).
2. To show the exiles why they were carried away.
Bible Timeline
Here is a good timeline to see the book of 2 Kings in the history of the Bible
http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/timeline.htm
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The Book of Law was the book of rules that God gave to Moses back in the book of Deuteronomy. |
King Josiah brought all of the
leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. They all went with him to God's
Temple. The priests, prophets, and all of the people went, too. Josiah read
the Book of Law to them.
[1] And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the
elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
[2] And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of
Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and
the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their
ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house
of the LORD.
Josiah stood by a big pole and made a promise to
God. He promised that the people in Judah would follow God and obey
His laws. They would all follow him with all of their hearts and souls. The
people all agreed with Josiah and promised to obey God's laws.
[3] And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to
walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and
his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words
of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to
the covenant.
Josiah told Hilkiah (the leader of the priests),
the other priests, and the Temple guards to take things out of the Temple.
He told them to take out everything that was used to worship false gods.
They cut down the grove of trees and burned them outside the city walls in
the area named Kidron. Then they carried the ashes to the area named
Bethel.
[4] And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the
second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple
of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and
for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the
fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
Josiah put out the priests who
worshiped false gods. The evil king, Manasseh, made these men priests. They
burned incense to the false god named Baal in the cities of Judah and in the
city of Jerusalem. They also burned incense to worship the sun, moon,
planets, and stars.
[5] And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had
ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in
the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal,
to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of
heaven.
Josiah took the grove of trees out of God's Temple.
He took them out of Jerusalem to the creek named Kidron. He burned the trees
there and stamped the ashes into powder. Then he threw the powder on
children's graves.
[6] And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without
Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and
stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of
the children of the people.
Josiah tore down the houses near the temple where
the male prostitutes lived. He tore down the places where women weaved items
to worship false gods with..
[7] And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of
the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Josiah went through all of Judah, from the area of
Geba to the area of Beersheba. Josiah took out the priests who worshiped
false gods. He destroyed the altars where they burned incense. He broke down
the places of false god worship by the gates. He broke down the worship
place by the gate of Joshua (the governor of Jerusalem). Joshua's false god
worship place was on the left-hand side of the gate.
[8] And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled
the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba,
and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of
the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand
at the gate of the city.
The priests from the false god worship places did
not come to God's altar in Jerusalem. But they stayed with their people
and ate bread without yeast in it.
[9] Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of
the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their
brethren.
Josiah destroyed the altar in Topheth (near the
place where the descendants of Hinnom lived). He destroyed the altar so that
no one could sacrifice their children to the false god named Molech.
[10] And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of
Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the
fire to Molech.
King Josiah took away the horses that other kings
used to worship the sun. They were kept by the door into God's Temple near
the room of Nathan-melech. Josiah burned the chariots.
[11] And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the
sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech
the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the
sun with fire.
In the past, Kings Ahaz and Manasseh had made altars to worship false gods
in their homes. Josiah destroyed these altars and turned them into dust. He
threw the dust into the creek named Kidron.
[12] And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which
the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the
two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them
down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
When Solomon was the king, he sinned and built
places to worship false gods near Jerusalem. He built worship places for
Ashtoreth (the false god of the Zidonians), Chemosh (the false god of the
Moabites), and Milcom (the false god of the Ammonites). King Josiah
tore down these places.
[13] And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right
hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had
builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the
abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children
of Ammon, did the king defile.
He broke up the statues and cut down the groves of
trees. He used the places to bury dead people.
[14] And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled
their places with the bones of men.
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About 350 years ago, when Jeroboam (his father was Nebat) was the king, he sinned and built an
altar to worship false gods. He caused the people in Israel to sin. Now,
Josiah destroyed Jeroboam's altar and another altar at Bethel. He tore them
down, burned them, and crushed them into powder. Then he burned the grove of
trees.
[15] Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar
and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it
small to powder, and burned the grove.
Josiah noticed places in the mountain where people
were buried. These were the priests who worshiped false gods on the altar.
Josiah brought the bones out of the mountain. He burned them on the altar.
About 350 years ago, this is what God said would happen. God told the
prophet, and the prophet told the people.
[16] And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there
in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned
them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD
which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
Josiah saw another grave that had a special mark on
it. He asked who it was. The men in the city told him it was the grave of
the prophet who traveled from Judah. He was the one who told Jeroboam that
Josiah would someday destroy the altar.
[17] Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city
told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and
proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
Josiah told them to leave his grave alone. They
should not take out his bones. So the men did not move the prophet's
bones.
[18] And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his
bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
Josiah traveled through the area named Samaria. He
saw the places that the evil kings of Israel built for worshiping false
gods. These kings made God very angry. Josiah destroyed these places, too.
He destroyed them the same as he destroyed the bad places in Bethel.
[19] And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of
Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger,
Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done
in Bethel.
Josiah killed all of the priests who worshiped false
gods. He burned their bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
[20] And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the
altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah gave the people a command. He told them to
celebrate the Passover to worship the Lord God. The Book of Law says they
should celebrate Passover.
[21] And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto
the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
Passover had not been celebrated for hundreds of
years. It had not been celebrated since the days that the judges and kings
ruled Israel and Judah.
[22] Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges
that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the
kings of Judah;
When Josiah was king for 18 years, the people in
Jerusalem celebrated Passover.
[23] But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was
holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.
Josiah put out all of the people who were involved with worshiping false
gods. He put out the people who talked to dead people, fortune tellers, and
wizards. He got rid of all statues and idols. He did all of this because
the Book of Law (the book that Hilkiah the priest found in God's Temple)
said these people were evil. Josiah obeyed God's laws.
[24] Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the
images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land
of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the
words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest
found in the house of the LORD.
There was no king like Josiah. Josiah loved God
with all of his heart and soul and strength. He obeyed God's laws. No king
that lived after Josiah was as good as he was.
[25] And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD
with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according
to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.
Even though Josiah was a good king, God was still
angry with the people in Judah. He was still angry because of the evil
things King Manasseh did.
[26] Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great
wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the
provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
God said that He would put Judah out the same as he
put Israel out. He will get rid of His city, Jerusalem.
[27] And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have
removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen,
and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
The death of Josiah
The book about the kings of Judah tells about the other things Josiah did.
[28] Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
When Josiah was king of Judah, the king of Egypt
was traveling through Judah to fight the king of Assyria. The king of
Egypt's name was Pharaoh-nechoh. Josiah and his army wanted to stop him.
They fought with him at the place named Megiddo. Pharaoh-nechoh saw
Josiah and killed him.
[29] In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of
Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he
slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
Josiah's workers put Josiah's body in a chariot.
They brought him back to Jerusalem. They buried him in his own sepulchre
(burial place in rock). The people in Judah then anointed (put oil on his
head to make him holy) Josiah's son, Jehoahaz. They made him the new king.
[30] And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and
brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the
people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and
made him king in his father's stead.
The kings of divided Israel (dates are not exact) |
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King of
Israel (northern part) |
King of
Judah (southern part) |
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Year started | King's name | Year started | King's name |
922 B.C. |
Jeroboam |
922 B.C. |
Rehoboam |
915 B.C. |
Abijam | ||
|
913 B.C. |
Asa | |
900 B.C. |
Nadab | ||
897 B.C. |
Baasha | ||
887 B.C. |
Elah | ||
886 B.C. |
Zimri | ||
882 B.C. |
Omri | ||
870 B.C. |
Ahab | ||
|
872 B.C. |
Jehoshaphat | |
855 B.C. |
Ahaziah | ||
The next 2 kings are both named Jehoram, but they are not the same person. The exact dates of when they began to be kings are not known. |
|||
849 B.C |
Jehoshaphat and Jehoram (Also called Joram) | ||
847 B.C |
Jehoram (Also called Joram) |
. |
|
835 B.C. | Ahaziah | ||
842-813 B.C. |
Jehu | 834 B.C. | Athaliah (queen) |
833 B.C. | Joash (not the same person as the king of Israel) | ||
813 B.C. | Jehoahaz | ||
796 B.C. | Joash (not the same person as the king of Judah) | ||
794 B.C. | Amaziah | ||
779 B.C. | Jeroboam | ||
752 B.C. | Azariah | ||
714 B.C. | Zachariah | ||
Shallum | |||
715 B.C. | Menahem | ||
702 B.C. | Pekahiah | ||
700 B.C. | Pekah | ||
658 B.C. | Jotham | ||
684 B.C. | Ahaz | ||
672 B.C. | Hoshea | ||
663 B.C. Israelites taken to Assyria |
669 B.C. | Hezekiah | |
699 B.C | Manasseh | ||
642 B.C. | Amon | ||
640 B.C. | Josiah | ||
609 B.C. | Jehoahaz | ||
598 B.C. | (Eliakim) Jehoikim |
King Jehoahaz dies in prison in Egypt.
Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he
became king. He was king for 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
Hamutal (her father was Jeremiah from the place named Libnah).
[31] Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Jehoahaz did bad things in God's eyes the same as
his ancestors.
[32] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to
all that his fathers had done.
Pharaoh-nechoh put Jehoahaz in prison in the place
named Riblah (in the area of Hamath). Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem.
Then, Pharaoh-nechoh made Judah pay taxes to him. They had to pay 100
talents (about 4 tons) of silver and a talent (about 75 pounds) of gold.
[33] And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath,
that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an
hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
Pharaoh-nechoh made Jehoahaz's brother, Eliakim,
the new king. He changed his name to Jehoikim. Then he took Jehoahaz away to
Egypt. Jehoahaz died in Egypt.
[34] And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of
Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away:
and he came to Egypt, and died there.
King Jehoiakim pays taxes to Egypt.
Jehoiakim made the people in Judah pay taxes.
Then he paid silver and gold to Pharaoh.
[35] And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the
land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted
the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to
his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.
Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to be
king. He was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. Jehoiakim's mother's name was
Zebudah (she was the daughter of Pedaiah from the area of Rumah).
[36] Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the
daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
Jehoiakim did bad things in God's eyes. He did bad
things like his ancestors did.
[37] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to
all that his fathers had done.
The king of Babylon attacks Judah, destroys the temple, and carries away the people.
The king of Babylon was named
Nebuchadnezzar. He attacked Judah and made Jehoiakim work for him. After 3
years, Jehoiakim rebelled (did not want to work for him anymore).
[1] In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became
his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
Babylon was a city-state in the area named Mesopotamia. It
was in the country that we now call Iraq. A city-state means it
was a large city that was not part of any other country.
The Chaldeans were the people who
controlled Babylon. |
Map by MapMaster from Wikipedia.com |
God sent groups of people to attack Judah. He sent
the people named the Chaldees, the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites.
They attacked Judah to destroy it. This is what God told the prophets
He would do.
[2] And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the
Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and
sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD,
which he spake by his servants the prophets.
God was sending the people to
destroy Judah. He wanted Judah out of His sight. He was punishing them
because Judah's past king, Manasseh, sinned and killed innocent people. God would not forgive
what Manasseh did.
[3] Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove
them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he
did;
[4] And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem
with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.
The book about the kings of Judah
tells more about the things Jehoiakim did. Then Jehoiakim died and his
son, Jehoiachin, became the new king.
[5] Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
[6] So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in
his stead.
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took all of Egypt's land from the Nile to the
Euphrates River. After that, the king of Egypt did not attack Judah
again.
[7] And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the
king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates
all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
The kings of divided Israel (dates are not exact) |
|||
King of
Israel (northern part) |
King of
Judah (southern part) |
||
Year started | King's name | Year started | King's name |
922 B.C. |
Jeroboam |
922 B.C. |
Rehoboam |
915 B.C. |
Abijam | ||
|
913 B.C. |
Asa | |
900 B.C. |
Nadab | ||
897 B.C. |
Baasha | ||
887 B.C. |
Elah | ||
886 B.C. |
Zimri | ||
882 B.C. |
Omri | ||
870 B.C. |
Ahab | ||
|
872 B.C. |
Jehoshaphat | |
855 B.C. |
Ahaziah | ||
The next 2 kings are both named Jehoram, but they are not the same person. The exact dates of when they began to be kings are not known. |
|||
849 B.C |
Jehoshaphat and Jehoram (Also called Joram) | ||
847 B.C |
Jehoram (Also called Joram) |
. |
|
835 B.C. | Ahaziah | ||
842-813 B.C. |
Jehu | 834 B.C. | Athaliah (queen) |
833 B.C. | Joash (not the same person as the king of Israel) | ||
813 B.C. | Jehoahaz | ||
796 B.C. | Joash (not the same person as the king of Judah) | ||
794 B.C. | Amaziah | ||
779 B.C. | Jeroboam | ||
752 B.C. | Azariah | ||
714 B.C. | Zachariah | ||
Shallum | |||
715 B.C. | Menahem | ||
702 B.C. | Pekahiah | ||
700 B.C. | Pekah | ||
658 B.C. | Jotham | ||
684 B.C. | Ahaz | ||
672 B.C. | Hoshea | ||
663 B.C. Israelites taken to Assyria |
669 B.C. | Hezekiah | |
699 B.C | Manasseh | ||
642 B.C. | Amon | ||
640 B.C. | Josiah | ||
609 B.C. | Jehoahaz | ||
609 B.C. | (Eliakim) Jehoikim | ||
598 B.C. | Jehoiachin | ||
598 B.C. | (Mattaniah) Zedekiah |
Jehoiachin was 18 when he became king of Judah. He
was king in Jerusalem for 3 months. His mother's name was Nehushta. She was the daughter
of Elnathan from Jerusalem.
[8] Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter
of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
Jehoiachin did evil things in God's eyes. He did bad things the same as his
father.
[9] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to
all that his father had done.
Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers attacked Jerusalem. Then
Nebuchadnezzar came and attacked it, too.
[10] At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up
against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
[11] And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his
servants did besiege it.
Nebuchadnezzar captured Jehoiachin, his family, and
his leaders. This was the 8th year that Nebuchadnezzar was king.
[12] And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he,
and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the
king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
Nebuchadnezzar took all of the valuable items from
God's Temple and the king's house. He cut up all of the gold items that
Solomon made for the Temple.
[13] And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD,
and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of
gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the
LORD had said.
Nebuchadnezzar carried away most of the people in
Jerusalem. He carried away the soldiers and 10,000 other people. He took the
men who were skilled in making things. The only people left in
Jerusalem were very poor people.
[14] And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the
mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and
smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
Nebuchadnezzar carried them away to Babylon. He
took Jehoiachin, Jehoiachin's mother, Jehoiachin's wives, the army leaders,
and the important people of Judah.
[15] And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and
the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those
carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
He took 7,000 soldiers and 1,000 craftsmen. He took
men that were strong and could fight in wars.
[16] And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths
a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of
Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
Then Nebuchadnezzar made a new king in Judah.
He made Jehoiachin's uncle the new king. His uncle's name was Mattaniah, but
Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Zedekiah.
[17] And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his
stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Zedekiah was 21 years old when he
became the new king. He was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. Zedekiah's
mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah from the area of
Libnah.
[18] Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Zedekiah did bad things in God's eyes. He did the
same kind of bad things that Jehoiakim had done.
[19] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to
all that Jehoiakim had done.
God was very angry with the people
in Judah and Jerusalem. That is why He put them out. Zedekiah rebelled
and would not obey the Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
[20] For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and
Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled
against the king of Babylon.
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Judah is led away to live in
Babylon. From "Treasures of the Bible" From the web site: La Vista Church of Christ |